By Emilie Foss
Eighteen Bible students from the evangelical Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Biola, visited BYU campus Tuesday to build friendships, develop relationships and clarify doctrine.
?It?s important that other organizations understand each other, get a basic understanding and be willing to listen to each other,? said Julie Ann Johnson, 23, a BYU linguistics major, from Denver, Colo.
Evangelists broadly define themselves as those in the Christian religion who strongly believe in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible.
?This trip is based on talking about differences and more importantly getting to know what you believe,? said Arnold Sergstad, 20, a student at Biola.
The Biola group has been traveling around Utah, attending different evangelical churches.
Before the group came to BYU, they helped sandbag in the St. George flood, took a tour of Temple Square, ate lunch with Elder Robert S. Wood of the Second Quorum of the Seventy and saw ?The Testaments? movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
On Tuesday, the Biola group attended classes at BYU, such as LDS Marriage and Family and Book of Mormon. They also had the opportunity to hear President and Sister Samuelson speak in the Devotional. In the evening, they attended a dinner and discussion at a lodge in Aspen Grove.
After a history of contention and Bible bashing in the past, the Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints have decided to rebuild the bridges which had burned down.
?It?s time to put away the sticks and stones and do some serious talking,? said Robert Millet, an ancient scripture professor.
The group had studied a bit about the LDS faith and read the Book of Mormon prior to coming to Utah.
?There is only so much you can learn in books,? said Stephanie Linn, 22, who graduated from Biola in music. ?We want to interact with LDS here and understand why they believe what they do.?
Serigstad became interested in learning about the LDS faith while in high school after seeing many of his LDS friends treated poorly by the evangelical youth groups. He knew there had to be a better way of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ rather than Bible bashing.
The relationship between the two schools has not always been friendly.
?We knew we had to change,? said Jason Lekas, 24, a Biola humanities graduate. ?We were digging up potholes and not fixing the road, and then Utah had to deal with the backlash. We had to change our approach. We would like the LDS to know that we love them and seek to understand and pursue truth together.?
Millet and Pastor Greg Johnson, director of Standing Together Ministries in Utah, are trying to develop relationships between the two groups in a new way.
?We are trying to show the upcoming generation that we don?t have to be confrontational on truth,? Johnson said. ?There is a lot of room for us to build on our compromise of scriptures.?
Feb. 23, 2005
Pastor Greg Johnson, director of Standing Together Ministries in Utah, has requested a clarification of his quote that appeared in an article titled 'Evangelists visit BYU, Temple Square,' published Jan. 21, 2005: 'We are trying to show the upcoming generation that truth does not always have to be confrontational. There is a lot of room for us to build on our common values and share on our perspectives of the scriptures.'